Here you will find riveting, death-defying and harrowing accounts of our trans-continental journeys, near-escapes and escapades as they unfold in real time. Home renovation edition.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Lake Lifts, Predators and Wal-Mart

Yesterday we went a floatin' in the lake. My aunt's next door neighbor's son has a house in a shady cove on Beaver Lake, so we set out with a few Heinekens and our swimming trunks for some swimmin'. It was mighty hot yesterday, which we learned on our longish run through Hobbs State Park yesterday morning, so we were happy to have some water to cool off in.

Now the lake house is actually high up on a cliff overlooking the lake. Some of the older houses have these elaborate lifts (like a small, slow-moving roller coaster) to take residents and their coolers, children and dogs down to the water. The Army Corps of Engineers (those bastards that brought us the flooded lower 9th ward!) apparently oversees all construction around the lake, since they are in charge of the dam. The Corps has since forbidden the construction of the lifts, so we were riding on a small piece of history in the greater Rogers area: one of the last remaining lake lifts.

The lake itself was...less refreshing than we might have hoped. The top two feet of the water was probably 85 degrees, which reminded me of swimming in a kiddie pool. But down by our feet the water was cold, and every so often we found ourselves in a cold eddy. The cold Heinekens helped a little.

Last evening I took Rebecca out for a romantic evening on the town, to take in Robert Rodriguez's latest masterpiece: "Predators." Though the cherry slushee I got was by far the most disgusting high fructose corn syrup concoction I've ever had, it didn't ruin the film. Fans of the Predator franchise will not be disappointed. If you are not a fan of the franchise or if you don't like horror/action movies, then you are to be praised for putting up with your loved ones taste in movies about alien hunters with lots of explosions. Topher Grace does put in a surprising cameo.

Today we made a pilgrimmage to the Flagship Walmart in Rogers. Did you know that Rogers, AR is where Sam Walton got his start? We are in the heart of Walmart Country here, where the aisles are many and long, and where you can get, in the same store, green onions (for $1.10), running shorts (for $5) and a 30-30 rifle (for $390). You can (and we did) get a universal phone charger for the car, a pair of titanium bladed scissors, a set of Pilot G-2 .05s (for $2.50) and Rainier cherries (for $3.48; same cherries at the Whole Foods in Dallas: $9.99).

We are heading further north and east tomorrow (the perfect direction for a westward migration).